High dynamic range images

High dynamic range images (HDRI or just HDR) show a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wide dynamic range allows HDR images to represent more accurately the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight, and is often captured by way of a plurality of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter. For display on standard dynamic range devices (such as computer monitors), HDR images need to be converted. Ways of doing this include tone mapping, clipping and compressing the dynamic range, or simple contrast reduction.

These are examples of four standard dynamic range images that are combined to produce two resulting tone mapped images.